When Sunit Kapur joined North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper in announcing Epsilon Advanced Materials’ (EAM) choice of Brunswick County, N.C., for a $650 million battery components plant, he cited proximity to U.S. electric vehicle manufacturers and strong local workforce resources as primary factors behind his company’s decision. Based in Mumbai, India, EAM supplies high-performance graphite for anode components in lithium-ion batteries. The company’s 1.5 million-sq.-ft. facility at Mid-Atlantic Rail Industrial Park will be its first in the U.S.
“We went through a due diligence process of 100 sites over one year,” says Kapur, CEO of Epsilon, which announced its selection in October 2023. Power was a key factor. “Duke Energy has been a great partner,” Kapur says, noting the Charlotte-based utility’s pledge to build a 250MW substation at the property. EAM was also swayed by Brunswick Community College’s pledge to provide free customized training for the company’s 500 employees. “Elsewhere in the U.S., we didn’t find that kind of support,” he says.
Mid-Atlantic Rail Industrial Park’s convenience to the Port of Wilmington, just 17 miles away, was equally crucial. “We will be utilizing the port for our inputs from India,” explains Kapur, who praises North Carolina’s economic development organizations and legislative leaders. “They have been very, very supportive and very, very responsive,” he says. “Everybody here walks their talk.”
While EAM’s search was a year in the works, the seeds of its arrival in North Carolina were planted over 15 years ago as regional economic development leaders began preparing new industrial sites around Greater Wilmington for opportunities brought on by increasingly globalized markets. After researching other port-centered destinations, their vision for a “near-port” recruitment model is now drawing major investments by Epsilon Advanced Materials and other global companies.
“We had the major ingredients in place – the Mid-Atlantic location, the port, the rail, the highways and the workforce,” says Steve Yost, president and CEO of North Carolina’s Southeast, the regional economic development organization supporting 20 North Carolina counties from the Atlantic Ocean to the Uwharrie Mountains. “What we lacked were big, ready-to-go sites equipped with industry-grade infrastructure.” Yost and others surveyed the region’s raw lands, explored the possibilities for development and began talking to landowners, allies and philanthropic organization who shared their commitment to bringing new jobs to the largely rural region.
Mid-Atlantic Industrial Park grew from that vision, as did other large properties not far away. The International Logistics Park, for example, spans 1,100 acres across Brunswick and neighboring Columbus counties. In the mid-2000s, officials at Wilmington Business Development began developing 330 acres near I-140 just 13 miles from the port. It would become Pender Commerce Park, which is now home to numerous distribution operations, including FedEx Freight, Home Depot and an upcoming Amazon last-mile station. Polyhose, an India-based maker of industrial tubing, recently announced a doubling of its assembly and distribution operations at the park, and Atlanta-based RL Cold has completed construction on a $100 million cold storage facility there.
“Our near-port strategy lends itself well to distribution operations, but we’re also benefitting from the post-COVID wave of manufacturing reshoring,” Yost explains. “Our timing couldn’t have been better.”
Broad highways and proximity to East Coast markets are similarly drawing major distribution operations across North Carolina. In Rowan County, work is underway on Macy’s 1.4 million-sq.-ft. distribution and fulfillment center intended to serve the New York retailer’s stores and online customers. Macy executives credit the Charlotte region’s strong labor market and abundant highways for leading them to Rowan County, where the company will employ 2,800. Chick-Fil-A has since begun work on a 120,000-sq.-ft. supply center in the county, and DHL Supply Chain is investing $40 million in an expanded presence there to serve North Carolina’s fast-growing life sciences industry.
Rod Crider, CEO of the Rowan Economic Development Council, cites his county’s location midway between Washington, DC, and Atlanta, as well as recent highway upgrades, for the run of distribution wins. “It’s a function of our location,” Crider says. Widening I-85 from four to eight lanes through much of the county, a project completed in 2019, has supercharged project activity. “We had a lot of interest after that,” Crider says.
North Carolina’s aviation and aerospace sectors are thriving, too. The “First in Flight” state is home to a significant military economy. In June, state and federal officials, including U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, gathered at the Global TransPark in Kinston to break ground on a 750,000-sq.-ft. hangar complex that will host maintenance and repair work on the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ C/KC-130 Hercules and Super Hercules refueling, cargo and tactical passenger planes. The facility, set to employ about 440 civilian workers, will be part of Fleet Readiness Center-East (“FRC-East”), North Carolina’s largest industrial employer east of I-95.
“This project dramatically expands capacity at the Global TransPark and positions us as a national center of aviation excellence,” says Mark Pope, president of the NC Global TransPark Economic Development Region, which oversees recruitment and retention in Greene, Lenoir and Wayne counties. The complex could potentially “BRAC-proof” eastern North Carolina military bases as the Pentagon streamlines maintenance and repair operations. “It also boosts our visibility with defense contractors seeking sites near East Coast military bases,” Pope says.
Since 2020, the TransPark, a 2,500-acre multi-modal industrial property that boasts North Carolina’s longest civilian runway, has been home to Draken International, which contracts with the U.S. military to train pilots in aerial combat operations. flyExclusive, now among the nation’s largest private jet operators, is headquartered at the TransPark, and Kansas-based manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems operates a 375-worker plant there.
“The expansion of FRC-East into the TransPark is the latest in a wave of aviation wins for us, and it will keep our momentum going,” Pope says. “We’ve enjoyed great support from state, local and federal partners, and I think the pieces are now in place to bring additional public and private investment, as well as high-skilled, high-wage jobs.”
Lawrence Bivins writes about business and the economy. He lives in Raleigh, N.C.
